As per the DOT statement, the 13 cities that will get the 5G services first in 2022 are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Chennai, Lucknow, Pune, Delhi, and Mumbai. Though the DoT has not officially confirmed as to which telecom operator will be the first in the country to roll out 5G services commercially, we can expect all three leading telcos (Jio, Airtel, and Vi) to try their best and be the first in the country. All three have already set up their trial sites in the said cities.
Additionally, DoT has partnered with eight agencies for the Indigenous 5G Testbed project which started in 2018 and is set to be completed by December 31st. DoT also said that a reference had been sent to TRAI in September 2021 to seek recommendations for the auction of spectrum identified for 5G with respect to the reserve price, band plan, block size, the quantum of spectrum to be auctioned, and the conditions of auctions in various bands (526-698 MHZ,700 MHZ, 800 MHZ, 900 MHZ, 1800 MHZ, 2100 MHZ, 2300 MHZ, 2500 MHZ, 3300-3670 MHZ, and 24.25-28.5 GHZ) for public 5G and private 5G networks.
